The practice of wrapping an absorbent material around one's forehead to collect, and control brow perspiration during periods of vigorous physical exercise and work has long been used. As perspiration or sweat accumulates on the forehead it drips and runs, and intermixes with any contaminates that may be present in the ambient environment and thus becomes potentially harmful. If uncontrolled, the accumulated perspiration will flow into the eyes. This aggravation and discomfort is amplified if a person wears eye glasses or contact lenses.
A second area where perspiration accumulates is on the forearm. The uncontrolled perspiration will flow onto the palms of the hands making it difficult to grasp tools, etc. This uncontrolled flow of perspiration can contaminate work areas and materials being processed.
Heretofore, sweat bands typically have consisted of an absorbent pad held in place over the perspiring area by a tensioning band. The absorbent materials frequently used are terry cloth toweling, synthetic sponge, and synthetic non-woven spun filaments. These materials, however, create certain problems. They are expensive and must be used sparingly to be economically and competitively priced. They are usually used in the form of pads, which many times are too large for a small head and/or too small for a large head. The pads must have a binding sewn around them to control loose threads, or they must be placed in a wrapper and sewn in place in the brow area of the sweat band. The wrapper for the pads forms the tension band. The wrappers are most often made of non-absorbent woven nylon or rayon fabric. In use, the wrappers are placed into direct contact with the skin of the perspiring area. The secreted perspiration must first fill the interstices between individual fibers of the fabric band material and saturate it before it can be transferred to the intended absorbent pad. The contact area is in a state of continual saturation, a condition conducive to rashes.
As previously noted, the band must be tensioned in order to retain it in position. The tensioning of the band tends to close the interstices of the band fabric. Since the absorbent matter is not in direct contact with the skin, and the interstices of the fabric have been reduced, the efficiency of the sweat band is greatly reduced. Still more assembly is required to add tension adjusting fasteners. Sweat bands are frequently tensioned by either elastic strips or with hook and loop fasteners. Sometimes, only a single strand of rubber band like material is attached to the ends of the sweat band with a metal staple. Wider elastic strips can be used, but this increases both material cost and assembly labor. The hook and loop materials are expensive. Their placement on the sweat band is critical and requires additional assembly time. The two components of this fastener are stiff and bulky when pressed together. Also, sweat bands using hook and loop fasteners usually do not allow for infinite adjustment, so that one size must fit all.
In use, all sweat bands become saturated and contaminated with ambient environment pollutants. Sweat bands assembled of pads and fabric wrappers must be washed and dried after each use. However, the sweat band of the present invention is made of inexpensive and short-term bio-degradable materials and can be discarded after use.
Another advantage to the sweat band of the present invention is that the entire absorbent face thereof is in direct contact with the area of perspiration and completely surrounds the user's head. The length of the absorbent pad is such that it extends one and one half times around the user's head. This arrangement allows a double thickness of the absorbent pad to be in direct contact with the area of heaviest perspiration. As one area of the band becomes saturated, it can be rotated slightly relative to the user's head so that a drier area of the band can be placed over the area of heavy perspiration. The overlap allows one size to fit all. It also eliminates the need of forming an "area pad" and all the associated assembly costs. The sweat band of the present invention also allows for infinite tensioning and infinite size adjustment without the use of additional fasteners. This feature eliminates the cost of fasteners and assembly labor. The total perspiration area is always in direct contact with the absorbent face of the sweat band. This provides the highest absorbent efficiency possible.
Other embellishments can be incorporated into the design such as:
(1) addition of insect repellent; PA0 (2) addition of any desirable scent; PA0 (3) personalized marking, name, etc.; PA0 (4) addition of advertising message printed on the binder; PA0 (5) can be furnished in a pocket pack which is flat; and, PA0 (6) can be furnished in a pocket pack which is round.
The foregoing explanation describes a novel laminating process of fabricating an inexpensive, disposable and bio-degradable sweat band. The unique design allows it to be completely fabricated on very high production machines. Notwithstanding the fact that the absorbent pad of the present sweat band is several times longer than the pad of existing sweat bands, the pocket pack as manufactured by the machine is much smaller than existing packs. The novel design eliminates the use of special band tensioning fasteners, while providing infinite adjustability. In addition, a pull tab is provided to aid in the installation and tensioning of the sweat band, as well as a quick release when the band is ready to be discarded. The above advantages are in addition to the capability of the sweat band to efficiently collect and control excessive perspiration, while eliminating the possibility of aggravating perspiration flowing into the eyes. Other possible uses for the absorbent pad of the present invention will include condensate collars and coasters for cold drink glasses and bottles.